6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise:
that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, So is the sluggard to them that send him.
But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter;
He also that is slack in his work Is brother to him that is a destroyer.
in diligence not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
The ants are a people not strong, Yet they provide their food in the summer;
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; `but' Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
The sluggard saith, There is a lion in the way; A lion is in the streets. `As' the door turneth upon its hinges, So doth the sluggard upon his bed. The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish; It wearieth him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit Than seven men that can render a reason.
I went by the field of the sluggard, And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, The face thereof was covered with nettles, And the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I beheld, and considered well; I saw, and received instruction: `Yet' a little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep; So shall thy poverty come as a robber, And thy want as an armed man.
The sluggard saith, There is a lion without: I shall be slain in the streets.
The desire of the sluggard killeth him; For his hands refuse to labor.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 6
Commentary on Proverbs 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter we have,
We are here dissuaded from sin very much by arguments borrowed from our secular interests, for it is not only represented as damning in the other world, but as impoverishing in this.
Pro 6:1-5
It is the excellency of the word of God that it teaches us not only divine wisdom for another world, but human prudence for this world, that we may order our affairs with discretion; and this is one good rule, To avoid suretiship, because by it poverty and ruin are often brought into families, which take away that comfort in relations which he had recommended in the foregoing chapter.
But how are we to understand this? We are not to think it is unlawful in any case to become surety, or bail, for another; it may be a piece of justice or charity; he that has friends may see cause in this instance to show himself friendly, and it may be no piece of imprudence. Paul became bound for Onesimus, Philem. 19. We may help a young man into business that we know to be honest and diligent, and gain him credit by passing our word for him, and so do him a great kindness without any detriment to ourselves. But,
Pro 6:6-11
Solomon, in these verses, addresses himself to the sluggard who loves his ease, lives in idleness, minds no business, sticks to nothing, brings nothing to pass, and in a particular manner is careless in the business of religion. Slothfulness is as sure a way to poverty, though not so short a way, as rash suretiship. He speaks here to the sluggard,
Pro 6:12-19
Solomon here gives us,
Pro 6:20-35
Here is,